After the Kane Williamson saga, New Zealand Cricket requested to be ‘fluid’ with player contracts
New Zealand Cricket is facing a new challenge, and that is how to adapt to players prioritizing lucrative franchise deals over central contracts. Tom Latham, a potential future ODI captain, has called for a more “fluid” approach to player contracts. Senior players like Kane Williamson, Lockie Ferguson, and Adam Milne recently declined central contracts.
Latham acknowledges the changing cricket landscape with burgeoning franchise leagues. He suggests NZC and the players’ association review the current contract system to ensure it remains relevant.
Latham said, “Think at the moment where cricket’s going in New Zealand is slightly different. It’s certainly not a black-and-white situation, and it's certainly changing with all these leagues popping up. Guess everyone is in a slightly different boat in what their future may look like depending on their age or stage in life.”
“We’ve got a lot of cricket in the summer and got an ICC pinnacle event that is the Champions Trophy, which is exciting to look forward to. So whether it be with different personnel, whether it be with the guys we are used to having, whenever we can have them, I’m sure that will be great, but I think we’ve certainly got to be pretty fluid with what things look like in the future.”